2009 Begins As a Buyer’s Market

TREB has their January stats up for resale properties. Looking at the numbers for downtown condos it is now very clear: we are in a serious buyer’s market.ÂÂÂ

• In C01 (downtown west), condo sales are down 58%, average prices are down 9.5%, and inventory is up 70%. The number of sales as a percentage of active listings was 12% versus 46% last year.
• In C08 (downtown east), condo sales are down 32%, average prices are down 12%, and inventory is up a staggering 116%. The number of sales as a percentage of active listings was 19% versus 60% last year.

So the story continues as we have seen for the past three months. Prices are down about 10%, sales are about half of what they were last year. DOM (days on the market) has gone up nearly 100% (27 days last year for C01 and C08 versus about 45 days this year). This underscores how much of a buyers market it really is out there. Even if sellers have price their condo with the 10% deduction from last year built into their price, they are still finding that it takes much, much longer to sell than it did a year ago.

Click on the PDF icon to download the full stats package for the month for downtown.

Previous posts in this series:

• October 2008 Condo Market Update: “Is the Toronto Condo Market Crashing?”
• November 2008 Condo Market Update: “Tipping Point? Downtown Condo Prices Fall, Inventory Soars”
• December 2008 Condo Market Update: “Sales Down. Prices Down. Inventory Up & Down?”